The Five Diamonds Preview and Tips 09/11/24

The Melbourne Cup has been run and won, but there’s still action to be had. It’s a massive day of racing on Saturday with three Group One races plus two key races. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Does the Spring Racing Carnival get any better than this? It’s been an epic carnival with so many high-quality races.

At Rosehill, we have two key races The Five Diamonds and the Golden Gift. Down in Melbourne, we have the Champions Stakes, the Champions Mile and the Champions Sprint. The Spring Racing Carnival seems like it is going on forever, which we love to see! The quality is still on point as well.

My Saturday tips for The Five Diamonds have landed here at OnlyRacing. I also have a set of tips for all the races mentioned above, so if you’re looking for something else to do, you should check out what I’ve done for the other races. For this article, in particular, I’m covering my best bets for The Five Diamonds.

We see a decent field line up for The Five Diamonds in 2024 and there are a lot of runners here with fast barrier speed. With that being said, I reckon we’ll see a fast pace as many will look to fight for the leader position. About six runners in the final field have decent barrier speed.

The current pre-race favourite, Territory Express, is certainly not one of them. He will look to play the backmarker position and will probably be one of, if not, the last runners in the field. He has some of the best closing speeds though, so as long as he can keep out of trouble and they don’t get too far ahead out front, he’ll have every chance of running them down.

Think the market has it right here with the favourite. Territory Express looks the one to beat and we are currently getting odds of $3.90 for the gelding to win The Five Diamonds, thanks to PlayUp. He might struggle a bit with his racing style, but it does seem like this has been a target of his, while this might simply be an afterthought for others.

His performance last time out in the Five Diamond Prelude caught my eye and obviously a lot of others as well. He looked like he was absolutely nowhere and then came from the clouds to finish second by just 0.1L. The rise to 1,800m looks a good move and he should be winning this one, surprised he isn’t shorter honestly.

There were a lot of contenders for the safe bet in The Five Diamonds, but eventually, I landed with Lindermann. The Group One winner comes into this one third-up after winning last time out. He beat the likes of Fawkner Park and Democracy Manifest home in the Group Three Craven Plate at the same distance as we have here.

The gelding is currently on the equal fourth line of betting, with odds of $8.50, thanks to Bet365. There’s room for improvement I reckon and he’ll need every little bit of improvement because this looks like a tougher test. However, with almost double-digit odds, that’s a price that I just can’t pass up on and he’s good enough to cause an upset.

The market has Lindermann and Kingswood at a similar price and I reckon that’s fair. At Dabble, Kingswood is currently going around with odds of $9.00. Was the second emergency, but as we’ve already seen two scratchings, the stallion has made his way into the confirmed field.

Comes into The Five Diamonds third-up and will be looking for the trifecta of wins! Yes, this is certainly a step up from what he was competing in before, but winning form is winning form! Last time out, he won the Group Three Coongy Cup as the favourite, by 1.8L. This will be a good test to see what level he is really at, but I think he will rise to the occasion.

Attrition is a class horse and a Group One winner, so you really count him out here. The 5YO slots in as my danger for The Five Diamonds. We last saw him in Rosehill where he won the Group Two Hill Stakes by 0.2L. If he can reproduce what he did in that race again this time out, he maps pretty well, thanks to the good barrier.

I think Territory Express might get the better of him, but if the favourite isn’t on it, Attrition is certainly good enough to swoop in and get the victory. Has had a nice trial since his Hill Stakes victory. Things are looking good here and the stallion is currently on the second line of betting with odds of $7.50, thanks to QuestBet.

Another Group One winner, but this time we are getting juicy odds. At the time of writing, Major Beel is going around with odds of $31, thanks to Bet Right. He has had an okay prep, winning first-up, but hasn’t done a lot since, so I can see why he is a roughie. He was outclassed in the King Charles III Stakes, finishing near the back of the pack.

He’s been up against some tough competitors this prep (like Pride Of Jenni), so a race like this is probably going to suit him more. On top of that, the rise in trip looks positive and he’ll likely settle just behind the leader, giving himself some cover and hopefully, there’s a break at the right time. If there is, he can run in the top three at big odds.

All my The Five Diamonds horse racing tips and their odds can be found here:

Bookmaker	Tip	Odds
	Territory Express (win)	$3.90
	Lindermann (place)	$3.10
	Kingswood (place)	$3.00
	Attrition (place)	$2.55
	Major Beel (place)	$7.00